OUR STORY SO FAR ...

We started Kula after our travels to Nepal and India which immersed us in stories of struggle and survival. It inspired us to create a business that would make the world a better place and create amazing yoga apparel in the process. After spending many months sourcing and developing apparel we managed to secure dedicated partners that brought our vision to life – a socially conscious business that would play a part in making the world that little bit better. Everything we do is driven by our passion to make products you really want and use processes that minimise our footprint along the way. We also love trees where with each garment sold, we plant 20 trees to support small holder farmers in Africa.

Kula is the story of our travels, of adventures and for our love for yoga. We hope our products will inspire you in one way or another, to create positive vibes and to flow with purpose.

“Kula” is derived from Sanskrit for “community of the heart” and used to describe a community of people with shared values and sense of connection.

Making the shift towards sustainability

Becoming a fully sustainable business is far from simple and especially in the textile industry with all the fabrics, packaging and transportation involved. The journey to being able to produce better garments in a better way is a long one but we are committed to making the shift.

The steps we have taken so far include:

Our fabrics

We use organic, recycled materials were possible. Our solid colour compression leggings are made from recycled nylon and our tees and muscle tanks are made from organic cotton. We currently use polyester for our printed designs but are in the process of developing a recycled version made from plastic PET bottles, which we plan to release in the next 12 months.

Packaging

We initially used recyclable garment bags made from LDPE materials but realised that still left a massive footprint as a business so we switched to compostable shipping bags made of plant materials, which decompose over time. We are also looking at more sustainable options to package the garments in, so please be patient if they may not look as aesthetically pleasing as we continue to find the best solution. We use recycled paper to print the shipping labels and invoices and are experimenting with using recycled post consumer materials to print future hang tags. Our packaging is an on-going project and we will update this space as we find new and better materials to work with.

Working towards minimising waste

As a business we try to minimise waste as much as possible so we donate any old lines or faulty stock to charities and King Cotton which recycle them into new garments.

Meet our factory

We’re dedicated to build long term, authentic relationships with our suppliers and only work with factories that we have personally visited numerous times to meet the owners, workers and to inspect the working conditions. We moved our manufacturing from Sri Lanka to China due to the desire to work with a more diverse range of fabrics and trims that weren’t available in Sri Lanka. In China, we can source highly functional fabrics as well as recycled polyester and many more sustainable options which we are currently exploring.

Our current factory based in Dong Guan, roughly a 30 minute train ride from Guangzhou city. It is the very first factory we’ve partnered with in China, so it was important for us to know they shared similar values to us. They’re a small family run factory – with a small knit team and highly skilled seamstresses who are all very passionate about their work. One of the reasons we love working with this factory is the passion they have for detail and the full support they’ve offered us in testing new styles, fabrics and prints.

Selfie with the owner of the factory (left) and Abby (middle) after our final supplier meeting in Dong Guan, China.